characters

• hamlet is a tragic hero because he is a man of action and is driven by his emotions
• hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist.
• About thirty years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius.
• Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality.
• A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts.
• Claudius is the King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle,murderer of former king and the play’s antagonist.
• The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere.
• Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth.
• Laertes is Polonius’ son, a handsome, charming, and intelligent young man with a quick temper and a strong sense of honor. He returns from Paris to find that his sister Ophelia has been rejected by Hamlet and that their father has died under mysterious circumstances.
• Ophelia is Polonius’ daughter, a beautiful and innocent girl whose life revolves around her relationship with Hamlet. She falls deeply in love with him, but when he rejects her advances, she becomes confused and distraught.
• Polonius is an elderly nobleman, advisor to the king, father of Laertes and Ophelia, and one of the most important figures in the court of Elsinore.
• Polonius is an old counselor to the Danish court, a pompous, self-important busybody whose meddling causes much trouble throughout the play. His advice to both Hamlet and Laertes proves disastrously wrongheaded, and his own death comes as a result of his own misguided attempts to spy on others.
• . Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, Ophelia gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death, she remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river amid the flower garlands she had gathered.
• Laertes is Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet.
• the ghost is The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The Ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain whether the Ghost is what it appears to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates that the Ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the Ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved.
• horatio is Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet’s death, Horatio remains alive to tell Hamlet’s story.
• Fortinbras is The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet.
• Guildenstern is A nobleman whom King Claudius sends to spy on Hamlet. Guildenstern is accompanied by Rosencrantz, but he seems more interested than his companion in carrying out their mission successfully. He is also somewhat more intelligent than Rosencrantz, which makes him seem like a possible ally for Hamlet when they first meet.
• Rosencrantz is Another nobleman whom King Claudius sends to spy on Hamlet. Like Guildenstern, Rosencrantz is supposed to find out why Hamlet has become so melancholy since his father died. Unlike Guildenstern, however, Rosencrantz does not appear very bright, and he often defers to his companion.